Councilmen: Officer's job will depend on hearing

A majority of Allentown City Council members said Friday they will not prejudge rookie police officer Brett Guth and will consider only the evidence presented at an upcoming hearing when they determine whether to fire him.

Police Chief Roger MacLean, with the support of Mayor Ed Pawlowski and other officials, has suspended Guth without pay and recommended he lose his badge. Authorities say Guth caused the collision of two police cars that killed 4-year-old Daviay Legrand, who was standing nearby.

The state's third-class city code gives council the final say on whether Allentown can fire civil service employees. Other employees are not subject to a council hearing and may be fired by city managers without council oversight.

Guth's hearing has not been scheduled. It will be closed to the public, with the outcome announced.

Council President David Howells Sr. and members Louis Hershman, David Bausch and Julio Guridy said they want to hear testimony on the facts, not rely on what they have heard in the media and in the community, before they decide whether to back the chief.

''We will listen to the case and we'll find out what went on, look at history and also look at how negligent he was,'' said Guridy, who was among city officials at the scene of the deadly May 30 crash at N. Seventh and Chew streets.

''I would have to sit and listen to the rationale behind the decision,'' Howells added.

He agrees with the city solicitor's opinion that Guth's driving record before he became an officer, which includes speeding tickets and a drunken driving arrest, ''has absolutely no bearing on this particular case. The police chief made it very, very clear those infractions happened many, many years before.''

Guth pleaded guilty to speeding citations in Lehigh, Luzerne and Carbon counties in 2001 and 2002, court records show. The 2001 drunken driving charge was dismissed after he completed a program for first-time offenders.

He joined the Allentown police in April 2006 and was still within his probationary employment period when the accident happened. He is not accused of speeding at the time of the accident.

State police and Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin announced this week that Guth, 31, of Lynn Township, caused the wreck that killed Daviay by running a red light on his way to a call of a man threatening people with a shotgun.

Guth did not see the signal because he looked down at his in-car computer to confirm the address, authorities said. His car hit another police car, driven by officer John Buckwalter, 33, pushing Buckwalter's car onto the sidewalk where Daviay was standing.

The boy died almost instantly, Coroner Scott Grim has said. He was walking with his mother's boyfriend, Jason Marcelle, 21, of Allentown, who suffered broken legs.

State police this week charged Guth with running a red light, which carries a fine and fees totaling $113.50.

Martin said there was no evidence of ''gross negligence,'' and criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter or vehicular homicide are not warranted.

Buckwalter, who had been responding to the same call, was cleared of wrongdoing and allowed to return to patrol this week.

Councilmen Howells and Bausch said Friday they agreed that Daviay's death was an accident.

''For 30 years, I drove around the streets,'' said Howells, who is a former police chief and police union president and active union member. ''That could have happened to me at any time.'' He said a patrol wagon he was riding in once hit a police ambulance.

His son currently works as an assistant police chief. Howells said he does not believe he should recuse himself from Guth's council hearing because of his son's job, or from his own connections to the department and police union.

''I don't think my son had anything to do with this case,'' Howells said.

Councilmen Michael D'Amore, Martin Velazquez III and Tony Phillips could not be reached for comment Friday. Phillips is also a former police officer and union official.

According to the third-class city code, city administrators may suspend a civil service employee for up to 10 days, with or without pay. Any punishment greater than that requires council approval.

Council can fire employees or suspend them for up to 30 days, with or without pay.

Mike Rooney, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, said he has never heard of a case where officials have recommended an officer be fired but council saved his job.

Guth could appeal council's decision to Lehigh County Court within 30 days.

A 19-year-old Portsmouth woman is facing multiple charges following a police pursuit that ended in Newport News over the weekend and involved two children reported missing in Chesapeake, an official said.